Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Hot Rod

How do you solve a problem like Michelle Rodriguez? On the one hand, she’s amazing. Hot, fierce, unwilling to compromise her vision of self for the confines of conventional femininity. On the other hand, she’s perplexing. Protesting, some would say way too much, about how much Mitchie likes sausage and other things that alienate her from her steadfast lesbian and bisexual female fanbase.

So I, like many a gay lady, had the same reaction when that “Fast & Furious 6” trailer came on during the Super Bowl earlier this month. No. 1, Oh, for fuck’s sake, why is there another one of these? And No. 2, oh, fuck, that’s Michelle Rodriguez in a tank top. Then a distant No. 3 was, wait, didn’t her character die? Stripping all sexual politics away, Michelle appeals to lesbians (not all, clearly, but oh so many) on a very basic level. Her toughness, her strength and her absolute smoking hotness in a tank top tap into our communal primal vein.

Which, I think, is why it’s even more disappointing when she’s erratic when we expect her to be empowering. I don’t pretend to know, for 100 percent certain, M-Rod’s sexual orientation. (Though I do have a female friend who swears she hit on her at a party.) Nor do I want to take away her right to, if it is indeed the case, come out on her own terms and in her own time. I just wish, from all of us, that she was as cool at dealing with her queer female fans and their complimentary wishful thinking as she was while kicking ass and wearing a tank top in the movies.

While I have, very proudly, never seen a single “Fast & Furious” movie from start to finish, I will say whenever the movie comes out I plan to search the series of tubes feverishly to see the fight between Michelle and Gina Carano that starts at the 2:23 mark in this trailer.

6 comments:

Ha! Yes I feel exactly the same Dorothy. On the one hand - those pictures. On the other - oh MRod please stop speaking. The powers of YouTube are a great compromise. It also facilitated a ridiculous conversation with a friend about who is more badass? MRod or Gina Carrea?

OK, so here's the thing: I don't mind when people aren't "out" per se. I realize that it's complicated, and I don't feel like every actor/performer courts the spotlight. in their private life. (I'm not one of those people who thinks that choosing acting as a profession gives the world permission to the contents of their personal life). So, while I don't expect everyone to come out (though I might wish it) I do expect respect. Plus, if you're someone who writes books about being a "queen" and accepting yourself or whatever and you also talk openly about your family etc,. but then adamantly refuse to talk about your sexuality...it looks more like internalized homophobia than general shyness. OK, so I didn't talk at all about MRod, because I'm trying this thing were if you have nothing nice to say...Ok, she has nice arms...but I won't go out of my way to watch one of her movies. Thank god there are people like Sarah Paulson to represent. I will watch any kind of crazy crap that I wouldn't normally watch if she's in it.

Well I like "Sausage" tooo, on my pizza.Look Michelle is probaably downplaying her lesbianism to get work. Sort of like all thos actresses (anna paqiun, megan fox) who claim to be bisexual but we never see them in a reltionahip with another woman. Well we never see Michelle in a relationship with a man.

Waiiiitttttt.....so she's back?!? I mean she was the only reason to watch any of those movies anyways so of course my heart broke a little when she supposedly died. Very curious to hear how she didn't actually die. And of course to see her in another tank top ;)